Detailed History

Victorian Glasgow - High Death Rates
Poor sanitation and the adulteration of food and drink was an immense problem in Victorian Britain. In Glasgow in 1897, the city had an average death rate of 21.4 per 1000 head of population. By today's standards, the Victorian Glasgow average all city death rate was high. Today's average figures for e.g. the Fife region of Scotland are presently 10.8. These are equivalent to what were only the very best rates achievable a century ago and around 2/3rds less than the worst areas of Victorian Glasgow.

Although, poor sanitation and disease were major factors in these high death rates, the consequences of inadequate nutrition were the nails in the coffin, especially for infant mortality. Additionally, there was a widespread practice of food and drink adulteration in Victorian times. The situation was, of course, worse in the poorer and more densely populated parts of the developing towns and cities and also to some villages and hamlets throughout the British Isles.

The medical authorities had been concerned with this problem for some time and as far back as 1850 the editor of The Lancet had established an Analytical Sanitary Commission to investigate the question of food adulteration in London. The findings of this commission resulted in the passing of the 1860 Adulteration Act. This act included a non-compulsory provision for court appointment of analysts in the counties and in the metropolis of London. to contents..

The Scotch whisky industry has altered a great deal during the past century, and many of the most significant changes have come about due to an increasing understanding of the science and technology of distilled spirits. At the forefront of the scientific analysis of whisky throughout that time has been the Scottish firm of Tatlock & Thomson Ltd.

The firm’s founder, Robert Tatlock, was born in Glasgow on May 18th, 1837 and initially trained under Professor Penny at Anderson's College in Glasgow and then worked as his assistant.

By 1867, Tatlock had set himself up as an Analytical Chemist and in1872 was a  partner of the firm of Wallace, Clark and Tatlock operating in laboratories at 42 Bath Street, Glasgow. In 1874, Robert Tatlock received the appointment of City Analyst for Glasgow and also held appointments for Perth, Dumbarton and Stirling and a total of 15 Scottish burghs, playing a major role in developing legislation to protect public health. Tatlock himself became president of the Society of Public Analysts and other Analytical Chemists in 1908. In 1891, he, along with his nephew Thomson founded the partnership of Tatlock and Thomson, Analytical and Consulting Chemists in Bath Street, Glasgow.

In the latter years of the 19th century, there developed a major dispute between the malt and grain distillers over the definition of what was true Scotch Whisky. This dispute came to a head with the formation of the 1908 Royal Commission. Prior to this, Tatlock had written in 1898 that "There is no legal definition of Whisky". He (Tatlock) was called as an expert witness at this commission, albeit on the side of the grain distillers. The Commission decided to duck the issue of a minimum maturation period (the malt distillers had demanded 2 years), declined to set a minimum malt content and found (July 1909) that "Whiskey is a spirit obtained from a wash saccharified by the diastase of malt and that Scotch Whiskey is a whiskey as above if distilled in Scotland". These findings determined the definition of Scotch Whisky which in essence, persists to this day. In 1915, Lloyd George introduced the compulsory bonding of spirits for a minimum period of 3 years on the basis that 'Drink was doing more damage in the war than all the German submarines put together'.

115 years after the firm’s foundation, much of the work undertaken today by Tatlock & Thomson continues the founder’s pioneering efforts in maintaining the integrity of whisky as it has evolved into one of the world’s great drinks. 

Since 1994, the firm has been based in the Old Corn Exchange in the Fife port of Inverkeithing, and is headed by Dr Harry Riffkin.

Harry Riffkin studied at Edinburgh’s Heriot Watt University, before undertaking a PhD in cereal science at Edinburgh University, subsequently being recruited by Pentlands Scotch Whisky Research Ltd as head of Distillation Studies in 1985.

Tatlock & Thomson’s drink-related analytical work encompasses whisky, wine, beer and liqueurs, focusing on ‘good practice’, embracing raw materials such as water, cereals, malt, molasses, sugars, yeast and general microbiological analysis. It also includes the study of wood for cooperages and sensory evaluation training.

“The major proportion of our work is for the alcoholic drinks industry”, says Harry Riffkin. “We provide independent UKAS accredited analysis for a wide range of companies in the whisky industry, looking at spirit quality and wood chemistry, among other things. We do work on fraudulent whiskies, brand authenticity, and analyze samples where complaints have been made by consumers. For example, whisky might have been transported in bulk in a road tanker that has not been properly cleaned, or oil contamination might have occurred on an overseas bottling line.

“We also do quite a lot of court work, as expert witnesses, for this work it is absolutely essential that we maintain the high standards set out in our UKAS accreditation standards. In cases concerning dilution or substitution of spirits in pubs and bars or in bottles for retail, we will be engaged by the government’s Trading Standards department, by the Scotch Whisky Association, or even by a publican if he is trying to prove his innocence. ‘’

Tatlock & Thomson is also often involved in the development of new products and new expressions to meet consumer demand across the alcoholic drinks’ spectrum, for example, undertaking analysis to create gin styles and flavours.

Within one of the Inverkeithing laboratories, small-scale trial distilling equipment carries out malting, mashing, fermenting and distilling processes, making some 15 litres of wash per batch, yielding two litres of spirit per run. Currently, plans are in place to build a pilot trial distillery for the use of client companies which would allow mashes of up to 500kg of malt distilling approximately 2,500 litres of wash

Overseas projects have included a number in North America, most notably developing the prize winning Old Potrero Single Malt Rye Whiskey with the Anchor Distillery in San Francisco. “I’m very proud of my involvement in that”, says Harry Riffkin. “It was a wonderful opportunity, and Fritz Maytag is a good personal friend. We still do work for them now and again’’.

As well as work for the drinks industry, Tatlock and Thomson carry out analysis of private water supplies both for distilling use and for private individuals and analysis of distilling raw materials including malt, cereals and yeast

Tatlock & Thomson continues to combine the most progressive thinking and modern scientific methods of analysis and with a desire to see alcoholic drinks made to the very highest standards. Integrity is the word to which one keeps returning. Robert Rattray Tatlock would surely have been proud of what his company has become.